popular culture

{{See also|Cultural history}}

{{Globalize section| the Anglosphere|date=July 2021}}

In the past, folk culture functioned analogously to the popular culture of the masses and of the nations.{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AvwyS1VJukQC |title = Inventing Popular Culture: From Folklore to Globalization|first = John|last= Storey |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date= 2009 |isbn =978-1405172653|chapter =Popular Culture as Folk Culture}}

The phrase "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier.Although the Oxford English Dictionary lists the first use as 1854, it appears in an address by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in 1818: {{cite book |title= The Address of Pestalozzi to the British Public |year= 1818 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=i6BDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT10 |quote= I see that it is impossible to attain this end without founding the means of popular culture and instruction upon a basis which cannot be got at otherwise than in a profound examination of Man himself; without such an investigation and such a basis all is darkness. |last1= Pestalozzi |first1= Johann Heinrich |access-date= 2020-10-24 |archive-date= 2023-06-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063235/https://books.google.com/books?id=i6BDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT10 |url-status= live }} Traditionally,{{when|date=July 2021}} popular culture was associated{{by whom|date=September 2019}} with poor education and with the lower classes,{{ill|Per Adam Siljeström|sv}}, The educational institutions of the United States, their character and organization, J. Chapman, 1853, p. 243: "Influence of European emigration on the state of civilization in the United States: Statistics of popular culture in America". John Morley presented an address On Popular Culture at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1876, dealing with the education of the lower classes. as opposed to the "official culture" and higher education of the upper classes.{{Cite book |last=Berrong |first=Richard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOoe_MqMQe4C&pg=PA13 |title=Rabelais and Bakhtin: Popular Culture in Gargantua and Pantagruel |date=2006-03-01 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6261-4 |pages=13 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Hayes |first=E. Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6jtq0LglIAC&pg=PA9 |title=Rabelais's Radical Farce: Late Medieval Comic Theater and Its Function in Rabelais |date=2010 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6518-2 |pages=9 |language=en}}

With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain experienced social changes that resulted in increased literacy rates, and with the rise of capitalism and industrialization, people began to spend more money on entertainment, such as (commercialised) public houses and sports. Reading also gained traction. Labeling penny dreadfuls the Victorian equivalent of video games, The Guardian in 2016 described penny fiction as "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young".{{cite news |last=Summerscale |first=Kate |date=April 30, 2016 |title=Penny dreadfuls: the Victorian equivalent of video games |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-equivalent-video-games-kate-summerscale-wicked-boy |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122215447/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-equivalent-video-games-kate-summerscale-wicked-boy |url-status=live }} A growing consumer culture and an increased capacity for travel via the newly invented railway (the first public railway, Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in north-east England in 1825) created both a market for cheap popular literature and the ability for its distribution on a large scale. The first penny serials were published in the 1830s to meet the growing demand.{{Cite web|title= Penny dreadfuls|url= https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls|access-date= 2020-06-29|website= The British Library|archive-date= 2020-06-18|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200618162441/https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls|url-status= live}}{{Cite book|last= Johnson|first= Charles|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7NnPSAAACAAJ|title= Lives of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads and Murderers|date= 1836|publisher= Lloyd, Purkess & Strange|language= en|access-date= 2020-09-16|archive-date= 2023-06-30|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063232/https://books.google.com/books?id=7NnPSAAACAAJ|url-status= live}}

The stress on the distinction from "official culture" became more pronounced towards the end of the 19th century,"Learning is dishonored when she stoops to attract," cited in a section "Popular Culture and True Education" in University extension, Issue 4, The American society for the extension of university teaching, 1894. a usage that became established by the interbellum period.

e.g. "the making of popular culture plays [in post-revolutionary Russian theater]", Huntly Carter, The new spirit in the Russian theatre, 1917–28: And a sketch of the Russian kinema and radio, 1919–28, showing the new communal relationship between the three, Ayer Publishing, 1929, p. 166.

From the end of World War II, following major cultural and social changes brought by mass media innovations, the meaning of "popular culture" began to overlap with the connotations of "mass culture", "media culture", "image culture", "consumer culture", and "culture for mass consumption"."one look at the sheer mass and volume of what we euphemistically call our popular culture suffices", from Winthrop Sargeant, 'In Defense of the High-Brow', an article from LIFE magazine, 11 April 1949, p. 102.

The abbreviated form "pop" for "popular", as in "pop music", dates from the late 1950s.The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume 15, p. 85 entry Pop music Although the terms "pop" and "popular" are in some cases used interchangeably, and their meaning partially overlap, the term "pop" is narrower. Pop is specific to something containing qualities of mass appeal, while "popular" refers to what has gained popularity, regardless of its style.Steinem, Gloria. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XFMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA73 Outs of pop culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063238/https://books.google.com/books?id=XFMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA73 |date=2023-06-30 }}, in LIFE magazine, 20 August 1965, p. 73 quotations: {{blockquote|Pop Culture–although big, mercurial, and slippery to define—is really an umbrella term that covers anything currently in fashion, all or most of whose ingredients are familiar to the public-at-large. The new dances are a perfect example... Pop Art itself may mean little to the average man, but its vocabulary...is always familiar.}}Bill Lamb, [http://top40.about.com/od/popmusic101/a/popmusic.htm "What Is Pop Music? A Definition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051020042544/http://top40.about.com/od/popmusic101/a/popmusic.htm |date=2005-10-20 }}, About.com, retrieved 8 March 2012 quotation: {{blockquote|It is tempting to confuse pop music with popular music. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the musicologist's ultimate reference resource, identifies popular music as the music since industrialization in the 1800s that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle class. This would include an extremely wide range of music from vaudeville and minstrel shows to heavy metal. Pop music, on the other hand, has primarily come into usage to describe music that evolved out of the rock 'n roll revolution of the mid-1950s and continues in a definable path to today.}}

According to author John Storey, there are various definitions of popular culture.John Storey. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SRN59zg9t9AC Cultural Theory and Popular Culture], pp. 4–8. The quantitative definition of culture has the problem that too much "high culture" (e.g., television dramatizations of Jane Austen) is also "popular". "Pop culture" is also defined as the culture that is "leftover" when we have decided what high culture is.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} However, many works straddle the boundaries, e.g., William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, and George Orwell.

A third definition equates pop culture with "mass culture" and ideas. This is seen as a commercial culture, mass-produced for mass consumption by mass media.Sérgio Campos Gonçalves, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20190127163020/https://livros01.livrosgratis.com.br/ea000713.pdf Cultura e Sociedade de Consumo: um olhar em retrospecto]", InRevista – Núcleo de Produção Científica em Comunicação – UNAERP (Ribeirão Preto), vol. 3, pp. 18–28, 2008, {{ISSN|1980-6418}}. From a Western European perspective, this may be compared to American culture.{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} Alternatively, "pop culture" can be defined as an "authentic" culture of the people, but this can be problematic as there are many ways of defining the "people".{{page needed|date=August 2012}} Storey argued that there is a political dimension to popular culture; neo-Gramscian hegemony theory "sees popular culture as a site of struggle between the 'resistance' of subordinate groups in society and the forces of 'incorporation' operating in the interests of dominant groups in society". A postmodernist approach to popular culture would "no longer recognize the distinction between high and popular culture".

Storey claims that popular culture emerged from the urbanization of the Industrial Revolution. Studies of Shakespeare (by Weimann, Barber, or Bristol, for example) locate much of the characteristic vitality of his drama in its participation in Renaissance popular culture, while contemporary practitioners like Dario Fo and John McGrath use popular culture in its Gramscian sense that includes ancient folk traditions (the commedia dell'arte for example).{{ill|Robert Weimann|de}}, Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition (1967)Robert Shaughnessy, The Cambridge companion to Shakespeare and popular culture (2007) p. 24.{{request quotation|date=August 2012}}

Popular culture is constantly evolving and occurs uniquely in place and time. It forms currents and eddies, and represents a complex of mutually interdependent perspectives and values that influence society and its institutions in various ways. For example, certain currents of pop culture may originate from, (or diverge into) a subculture, representing perspectives with which the mainstream popular culture has only limited familiarity. Items of popular culture most typically appeal to a broad spectrum of the public. Important contemporary contributions to understanding what popular culture means have been given by the German researcher Ronald Daus, who studies the impact of extra-European cultures in North America, Asia, and especially in Latin America.

Within the realm of popular culture, there exists an organizational culture. From its beginning, popular culture has revolved around classes in society and the push-back between them. Within popular culture, there are two levels that have emerged, high and low. High culture can be described as art and works considered of superior value, historically, aesthetically and socially. Low culture is regarded by some as that of the lower classes, historically.{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018 |title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |pages=6, 7 |isbn=978-1538107447}}

{{Main|Folklore}}

Adaptations based on traditional folklore provide a source of popular culture.On the Ambiguity of the Three Wise Monkeys A. W. Smith Folklore, Vol. 104, No. 1/2 (1993), pp. 144–150.

This early layer of cultural mainstream still persists today, in a form separate from mass-produced popular culture, propagating by word of mouth rather than via mass media, e.g. in the form of jokes or urban legends. With the widespread use of the Internet from the 1990s, the distinction between mass media and word-of-mouth has become blurred.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Although the folkloric element of popular culture engages heavily with the commercial element, communities amongst the public have their own tastes and they may not always embrace every cultural or subcultural item sold. Moreover, certain beliefs and opinions about the products of commercial culture may spread by word-of-mouth, and become modified in the process and in the same manner that folklore evolves.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Popular culture in the West has been critiqued for being a system of commercialism that privileges products selected and mass-marketed by the upper-class capitalist elite; such criticisms are most notable in many Marxist theorists such as Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, bell hooks, Antonio Gramsci, Guy Debord, Fredric Jameson, Terry Eagleton, as well as certain postmodern philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard, who has written about the commercialisation of information under capitalism,Lyotard, Jean-François (1979). La condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir. Paris: Minuit. and Jean Baudrillard, as well as others.Frederic Jameson: Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 1991.

{{Main|Culture industry}}

The most influential critiques of popular culture came from Marxist theorists of the Frankfurt School during the twentieth century. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer analyzed the dangers of the culture industry in their influential work the Dialectic of Enlightenment by drawing upon the works of Kant, Marx, Nietzsche and others. Capitalist popular culture, as Adorno argued, was not an authentic culture of the people but a system of homogenous and standardized products manufactured in the service of capitalist domination by the elite. The consumer demand for Hollywood films, pop tunes, and consumable books is influenced by capitalist industries like Hollywood and the elite who decide which commodities are to be promoted in the media, including television and print journalism. Adorno wrote, "The industry bows to the vote it has itself rigged".{{cite book |last1=Adorno |first1= Theordor |last2=Horkheimer |first2=Max |title=Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments |chapter=Enlightenment as Mass Decption |location=Stanford, California |publisher= Stanford University Press |year=2002 |page=106 |isbn=0-8047-3633-2 }} It is the elite who commodify products in accordance with their narrow ideological values and criteria, and Adorno argues that the audience becomes accustomed to these formulaic conventions, making intellectual contemplation impossible.Adorno & Horkheimer: Dialectic of Enlightenment. p. 100. Adorno's work has had a considerable influence on culture studies, philosophy, and the New Left.Held, D. (1980). Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas. Berkeley, University of California Press.

Writing in the New Yorker in 2014, music critic Alex Ross, argued that Adorno's work has a renewed importance in the digital age: "The pop hegemony is all but complete, its superstars dominating the media and wielding the economic might of tycoons...Culture appears more monolithic than ever, with a few gigantic corporations—Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon—presiding over unprecedented monopolies".{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/15/naysayers |title=The Naysayers |last=Ross |first=Alex |magazine=The New Yorker |date=8 September 2014 |access-date=20 July 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802170013/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/15/naysayers |archive-date=Aug 2, 2021 }} There is much scholarship on how Western entertainment industries strengthen transnational capitalism and reinforce Western cultural dominance.Lee Artz (2015). Global Entertainment Media: A Critical Introduction. 167–175. Hence, rather than being a local culture, commercial entertainment is artificially reinforced by transnational media corporations.Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Culture Industry Tanner Mirrlees . Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2016. 336 pp. Globalized pop culture can contribute to the homogenization of cultural identities, erasing or diluting diverse local traditions and practices in favor of standardized, marketable forms of entertainment and consumption.Sayre, Shay; Cynthia King (2010). Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impacts, and Innovations (2nd ed.). Oxon, New York: Routledge. p. 31.

Jack Zipes, a professor of German and literature, critiqued the mass commercialization and corporate hegemony behind the Harry Potter franchise. He argued that the commodities of the culture industry are "popular" because they are homogenous and obey standard conventions; the media then influences the tastes of children. In his analysis of Harry Potter's global brand, Zipes wrote, "It must conform to the standards of exception set by the mass media and promoted by the culture industry in general. To be a phenomenon means that a person or commodity must conform to the hegemonic groups that determine what makes up a phenomenon."Zipes, J. (2002). Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. p. 175.

{{Main|Imperialism|Cultural imperialism}}

According to John M. MacKenzie, many products of popular culture have been designed to promote imperialist ideologies and to glorify the British upper classes rather than present a democratic view of the world.John M. MacKenzie. Imperialism and Popular Culture. 1986, Manchester University Press 155 Although there are many films which do not contain such propaganda, there have been many films that promote racism and militarist imperialism.

bell hooks, an influential feminist, argues that commercial commodities and celebrities cannot be symbols of progressiveness when they collaborate with imperialist capitalism and promote ideals of beauty; hooks uses Beyoncé as an example of a commodity reinforced by capitalist corporations complicit in imperialism and patriarchy.bell hooks: https://genius.com/Bell-hooks-beyonce-is-a-terrorist-annotated {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728034039/https://genius.com/Bell-hooks-beyonce-is-a-terrorist-annotated |date=2021-07-28 }}bell hooks. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/capitalism-of-beyonce-lemonade-album Beyoncé's Lemonade is capitalist money-making at its best] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728034043/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/capitalism-of-beyonce-lemonade-album |date=2021-07-28 }}. Guardian. 2016

{{Main|Propaganda}}

Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky critiqued the mass media in their 1988 work Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. They argue that mass media is controlled by a powerful hegemonic elite who are motivated by their own interests that determine and manipulate what information is present in the mainstream. The mass media is therefore a system of propaganda.

{{blockquote |In sum, a propaganda approach to media coverage suggests a systematic and highly political dichotomization in news coverage based on serviceability to important domestic power interests. This should be observable in dichotomized choices of story and in the volume and quality of coverage... such dichotomization in the mass media is massive and systematic: not only are choices for publicity and suppression comprehensible in terms of system advantage, but the modes of handling favored and inconvenient materials (placement, tone, context, fullness of treatment) differ in ways that serve political ends.Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. 1988. pp. 19–20. Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman }}

{{Main|Consumerism}}

According to the postmodern sociologist Jean Baudrillard, the individual is trained into the duty of seeking the relentless maximization of pleasure lest he or she become asocial.Baudrillard. J. (1998). The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. p. 80. Therefore, "enjoyment" and "fun" become indistinguishable from the need to consume. Whereas the Frankfurt School believed consumers were passive, Baudrillard argued that consumers were trained to consume products in the form of active labor in order to achieve upward social mobility.Baudrillard. J. (1998). The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. p. 110. Thus, consumers under capitalism are trained to purchase products such as pop albums and consumable fiction in order to signal their devotion to social trends, fashions, and subcultures. Although the consumption may arise from an active choice, the choice is still the consequence of a social conditioning that the individual is unconscious of. Baudrillard says, "One is permanently governed by a code whose rules and meaning—constraints—like those of language—are, for the most part, beyond the grasp of individuals".Baudrillard. J. (1998). The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. p. 61.

Jean Baudrillard argued that the vague conception "Public Opinion" is a subjective and inaccurate illusion, for it attributes a sovereignty to consumers that they do not really have.Baudrillard. J. (1998). The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. Page 86 In Baudrillard's understanding, the products of capitalist popular culture can only give the illusion of rebellion, since they are still produced by a system controlled by the powerful. Baudrillard stated in an interview, critiquing the content and production of The Matrix:

{{blockquote |The Matrix paints the picture of a monopolistic superpower, like we see today, and then collaborates in its refraction. Basically, its dissemination on a world scale is complicit with the film itself. On this point it is worth recalling Marshall McLuhan: the medium is the message. The message of The Matrix is its own diffusion by an uncontrollable and proliferating contamination.{{cite journal |url=https://baudrillardstudies.ubishops.ca/the-matrix-decoded-le-nouvel-observateur-interview-with-jean-baudrillard/ |title=The Matrix Decoded: Le Nouvel Observateur Interview With Jean Baudrillard |journal=International Journal of Baudrillard Studies |date=July 2004 |volume=1 |number=2 |first1=Gary |last1=Genosko |first2=Adam |last2=Bryx |issn=1705-6411 |access-date=2020-04-11 |archive-date=2020-04-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404090328/https://baudrillardstudies.ubishops.ca/the-matrix-decoded-le-nouvel-observateur-interview-with-jean-baudrillard/ |url-status=live }} }}

{{Main|Print culture}}

With the invention of the printing press in the sixteenth century, mass-produced, cheap books, pamphlets and periodicals became widely available to the public. With this, the transmission of common knowledge and ideas was possible.{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018 |title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=112 |isbn=978-1538107447}}

{{Main|Radio broadcasting}}

In the 1890s, Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi created the radiotelegraph, allowing for the modern radio to be born. This led to the radio being able to influence a more "listened-to" culture, with individuals being able to feel like they have a more direct impact.{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018|title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=157 |isbn=978-1538107447}} This radio culture is vital, because it was imperative to advertising, and it introduced the commercial.

{{Main|Film}}

Films and cinema are highly influential to popular culture, as films as an art form are what people seem to respond to the most.{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018|title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=195 |isbn=978-1538107447}} With moving pictures being first captured by Eadweard Muybridge in 1877, films have evolved into elements that can be cast into different digital formats, spreading to different cultures.

The impact of films and cinema are most evident when analyzing in the search of what the films aim to portray.{{Cite web|title=Films as Social and Cultural History|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/socialhist.html|access-date=2020-12-01|website=historymatters.gmu.edu|archive-date=2020-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114002211/http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/socialhist.html|url-status=live}} Films are used to seek acceptance and understanding of many subjects because of the influence the films carry—an example of an early representation of this can be seen in Casablanca (1942): the film introduced war subjects to the public after the United States entered World War II, and it meant to increase pro-war sentiment for the allies.{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Kathy|title=Playing it again and again: Casablanca's impact on American mass media and popular culture.|journal=Journal of Popular Film & Television|year=2000|volume=27|issue=4|pages=33–41, 9p|doi=10.1080/01956050009602813|s2cid=191490559}} Films are a known massive influencer to popular culture yet not all films create a movement that contributes enough to be part of the popular culture that starts movements.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The content must resonate to most of the public so the knowledge in the material connects with the majority.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} Popular culture is a set of beliefs in trends and entail to change a person's set of ideologies and create social transformation.{{Cite journal|last=Kubrak|first=Tina|title=Impact of Films: Changes in Young People's Attitudes after Watching a Movie|journal=Behavioral Sciences|year=2020|volume= 10| issue = 5|page=86|doi=10.3390/bs10050086|pmid=32370280|pmc=7288198|doi-access=free}} The beliefs are still a trend that change more rapidly in the modern age that carries a continuation of outpouring media and more specifically films. The trend does not last but it also carries a different effect based on individuals that can be grouped to generalized groups based on age and education.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The creation of culture by films is seen in fandoms, religions, ideologies, and movements. The culture of film is more evident through social media. Social media is an instant source of feedback and creates discussion on films. A repeating event that has been set in modern culture within the trend setting phase is the creation of movements in social media platforms to defend a featured subject on a film.{{Cite journal|last=Hallinan|first=Blake|title=Recommended for you: The Netflix Prize and the production of algorithmic culture|journal=New Media and Society|volume=2016|pages=117–137}}

Popular culture or mass culture, is reached easily with films which are easily shared and reached worldwide.

{{Main|Television program}}

A television program is a segment of audiovisual content intended for broadcast (other than a commercial, trailer, or other content not serving as attraction for viewership).

Television programs may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, light entertainment, news and reality television). They may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television movies), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They can be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

{{Main|Popular music}}

Popular music is music with wide appeal{{Cite web|title = Definition of "popular music" {{!}} Collins English Dictionary|url = http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/popular-music|website = www.collinsdictionary.com|access-date = 2015-11-15|archive-date = 2019-03-27|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190327184256/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/popular-music|url-status = live}} that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia It stands in contrast to both art music{{Cite book|title = The New Oxford Companion Music, Volume 1: A–J|last = Arnold|first = Denis|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 1983|isbn = 978-0-19-311316-9|page = 111}}{{Cite journal|url = http://www.tagg.org/articles/xpdfs/pm2anal.pdf |title = Analysing popular music: theory, method and practice|last = Tagg|first = Philip|date = 1982|journal = Popular Music|volume = 2|pages = 37–67|doi = 10.1017/S0261143000001227|citeseerx = 10.1.1.628.7469| s2cid=35426157 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180721225511/http://www.tagg.org/articles/xpdfs/pm2anal.pdf|archive-date = 2018-07-21}} and traditional or "folk" music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local audiences.

{{Main|Sport}}

Sports include all forms of competitive physical activity or games which,{{cite web |publisher=SportAccord |url=http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/index.php?idIndex=32&idContent=14881 |title=Definition of sport |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111028112912/http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/index.php?idIndex=32&idContent=14881 |archive-date=28 October 2011}} through casual or organized participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators.{{cite web|last=Council of Europe|title=The European sport charter|url=https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=206451|access-date=5 March 2012|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606204451/https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectID=09000016804c9dbb|url-status=live}} The connection between sports and popular culture is significant in recent times because there is an influx of sport history to keep track of, as sports journalists produce quality pieces, more sports museums are developed, and there are various radio, film, and television documentaries. Sport history has embraced popular culture as it has expanded its horizons on elite athletes and governing bodies, to the study of every day activities. It has broadened its perspective by connecting sports and athletes with class, gender, ethnicity, and disability. Sports are becoming more popular in the eyes of society, and impacting human culture as they get more invested in the game, and perhaps even play the sports themselves in their neighborhoods. Museums also show sports as popular culture, such as Stuart Clarke’s “The Homes of Football” photographic collection in the National Football Museum.{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Kevin |date=2013 |title=Sport History, Public History, and Popular Culture: A Growing Engagement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jsporthistory.40.1.39 |journal=Journal of Sport History |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=39–55 |doi=10.5406/jsporthistory.40.1.39 |jstor=10.5406/jsporthistory.40.1.39 |issn=0094-1700}}

{{Main|Corporate branding}}

Corporate branding refers to the practice of promoting the brand name of a corporate entity, as opposed to specific products or services.{{cite web | title=Pop Culture: An Overview – Issue 64 | website=Philosophy Now | url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview | access-date=July 2, 2018 | archive-date=March 22, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322195719/https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview | url-status=live }}

{{Main|Personal branding}}

Personal branding includes the use of social media to promotion to brands and topics to further good repute among professionals in a given field, produce an iconic relationship between a professional, a brand and its audience that extends networks past the conventional lines established by the mainstream and to enhance personal visibility. Popular culture: is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of the practices, beliefs, and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a society at a given point in time. As celebrities online identities are extremely important in order to create a brand to line-up sponsorships, jobs, and opportunities. As influencers, micro-celebrities, and users constantly need to find new ways to be unique or stay updated with trends, in order to maintain followers, views, and likes.{{Cite journal|title=Building a personal brand through social networking.|journal=Journal of Business Strategy|last1=Harris|first1=L|last2=Rae|first2=A|date=2011|volume=32|issue=5|pages=14–21|publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited|doi=10.1108/02756661111165435|url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/182817/1/Personal_branding2.doc|access-date=2020-09-16|archive-date=2021-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205162153/https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/182817/1/Personal_branding2.doc|url-status=live}} For example, Ellen DeGeneres has created her own personal branding through her talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. As she developed her brand we can see the branches she created to extend her fan base such as Ellen clothing, socks, pet beds, and more.

{{Main|Social media}}

{{See also|Information Age}}

Social media is interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok and Snapchat are the most popular applications used on a daily basis by younger generations. Social media tends to be implemented into the daily routine of individuals in our current society. Social media is a vital part of our culture as it continues to impact the forms of communication used to connect with those in our communities, families, or friend groups.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2017/12/how-social-media-influences-culture-and-language|title=How social media influences culture and language|website=The Johns Hopkins News-Letter|access-date=2020-04-04|archive-date=2020-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728015143/https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2017/12/how-social-media-influences-culture-and-language|url-status=live}} We often see that terms or slang are used online that is not used in face-to-face conversations, thus, adding to a persona users create through the screens of technology. For example, some individuals respond to situations with a hashtag or emojis.

Social media influencers have become trendsetters{{Cite web |last=T |first=Abdullah |title=mpact of Social Media Influencers on Instagram User Purchase Intention towards the Fashion Products: The Perspectives of UMK Pengkalan Chepa Campus Students. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine. |year=2020 |url=http://myscholar.umk.edu.my/handle/123456789/1413 |access-date=2023-05-07 |archive-date=2023-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630064233/http://myscholar.umk.edu.my/handle/123456789/1413 |url-status=live }} through their direct engagement with large audiences, upending conventional marketing and advertising techniques. Consumer purchase choices have been impacted by fashion partnerships, sponsored material and outfit ideas offered by influencers. Social media has also made fashion more accessible by fostering uniqueness, expanding the depiction of trends, and facilitating the rise of niche influencers. The influencer-driven fashion industry, nevertheless, has also come under fire for encouraging excessive consumerism, inflated beauty ideals, and labour exploitation.{{Cite journal |last1=Zak |first1=Stefan |last2=Hasprova |first2=Maria |date=2020 |title=The role of influencers in the consumer decision-making process |url=https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/abs/2020/02/shsconf_glob2020_03014/shsconf_glob2020_03014.html |journal=SHS Web of Conferences |language=en |volume=74 |pages=03014 |doi=10.1051/shsconf/20207403014 |s2cid=214275868 |issn=2261-2424 |access-date=2023-05-07 |archive-date=2023-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329145603/https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/abs/2020/02/shsconf_glob2020_03014/shsconf_glob2020_03014.html |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}

{{Further|Fashion|History of Western fashion}}

{{Off topic|date=May 2023}}

The fashion industry has witnessed tremendous, rapid, and applaudable changes over the years, culminating in the production of masterpieces unimaginable in the past decades. This dynamic trend has compelled renowned clothing lines such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Balenciaga to intensify research and creative imagination to develop appealing designs that are outstanding and fascinating.{{Cite journal |last1=Gazzola |first1=Patrizia |last2=Pavione |first2=Enrica |last3=Pezzetti |first3=Roberta |last4=Grechi |first4=Daniele |date=January 2020 |title=Trends in the Fashion Industry. The Perception of Sustainability and Circular Economy: A Gender/Generation Quantitative Approach |journal=Sustainability |language=en |volume=12 |issue=7 |page=2809 |doi=10.3390/su12072809 |issn=2071-1050 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020Sust...12.2809G }} Fashion has changed from the classical baggy and oversized pieces to trendy and slim-fit clothes for both males and females. Fashion trends and what has been considered popular have been directly influenced and affected by the environment and the state of the world. Dating back to the First and Second World Wars, clothing was designed for functionality as well as to be made in the cheapest way possible. This was due to collective preparation efforts through the conservation of materials. This trend can also be seen throughout the 1930s, or the Great Depression era of history. Due to the state of the economy, clothing yet again faced fundamental changes in shape and function. The term utility clothing was coined, meaning that fashion had taken a turn to more reserved silhouettes. For efficiency, handmade clothing became encouraged through government-backed campaigns.{{Cite web |title=A new way of living and dressing |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200921-is-2020-a-turning-point-for-fashion |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.bbc.com}} Post-war and continuing throughout the 1900s fashion began to take a more individualistic tone. Primarily marked by the turbulence of the 1960s and momentous social change, younger generations started to develop their own sense of style. Catapulting influences of things like different prints or patterns that can still be seen in the present day.The future of fashion is promising and is significantly inspired by past trends. Despite that influence, the fashion industry is moving towards a goal of sustainability. This is due to past actions of intense consumerism and fast fashion usage, as well as increasing environmental threats. The state of the economy continues to have a great effect on fashion, as consumers will be looking to make more of an investment in the items that they purchase, rather than participating in a constant cycle of buying. Sustainability is something that designers are actively pursuing as well. Connolly, a British menswear brand, is just one example of the many who are challenging designers and stylists to revamp and upcycle pieces of clothing from past collections.Further, the past few decades have seen the reintroduction of old designs, which have been revitalized and improvised to fit the current market needs. Additionally, celebrities and influencers are at the forefront of setting fashion trends through various platforms.{{cn|date=May 2023}}Clothing will continue to act as an area for personal expression no matter the trends, constantly shaped by the world around us.

Pop culture has had a lasting influence to the products being released in their time. Many examples of art, books, films and others, have been inspired by pop culture. These include:

{{Main|Pop art}}

Pop art is an art movement that first emerged in the 1950s as a reaction and a counter to traditional and high-class art by including common and well-known images and references.[https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art Pop Art: A Brief History, MoMA Learning] Artists known during this movement include Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Larry Rivers, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.{{cite book| last=Harrison| first=Sylvia |title=Pop Art and the Origins of Post-Modernism| publisher=Cambridge University Press| date=2001-08-27}}

{{Main|Pop music}}

Pop music is a wide-ranging genre of music whose characteristics include styles and tones that have a wider and more massive appeal to all kinds of consumers.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), {{ISBN|0-521-55660-0}}, pp. 95–105. Oftentimes, many examples of these music contain influences from other pre-existing works.Popular Music. (2015). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia The origins of popular music began in the late 1800s with the inventions of Edison’s phonograph and Berliner’s gramophone, both of which allowed for music to be available for purchase to the public rather than access to just the elites. Due to the almost nonexistent copyright laws, the early 1900s flourished with composers and publishers aiming to make and sell as much music as they could. The hub for this activity was a small area of New York known as Tin Pan Alley, which quickly became one of the major spots for popular music as the demand grew intensely.{{Cite journal |last=Publisher |first=Author removed at request of original |date=2016-03-22 |title=6.2 The Evolution of Popular Music |publisher=University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2016. This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that it not receive attribution. |url=https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/6-2-the-evolution-of-popular-music/ |language=en}} Technological advances in the 1940s only furthered the success and popularity of the genre. The reel-to-tape recorder was groundbreaking in terms of innovation and served as the baseline for many more transformations this genre and the music industry as a whole will endure. Along with the continued innovation of popular music, multiple subset genres emerged as the new faces of popular music, all with the foundation of jazz and blues. Some of those genres include Rock and Roll, Punk, and Hip Hop. Due to the increasing mainstream success of popular music, artists of the genre grew in fame and popularity. A few of the major singers and musicians of this genre include Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Elvis Presley, Beatles, Beyonce, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. Popular music will continue to be shaped by, and evolve to fit the tastes and preferences of the public.

{{Main|Pop culture fiction}}

Pop culture fiction is a genre in books, comics, films, shows, and many other story-telling media that depicts stories that are purposely filled with easter eggs and references to pop culture.{{cite web|url=https://electricliterature.com/should-fiction-be-timeless-pop-culture-references-in-contemporary-novels/|title=Should Fiction Be Timeless? Pop Culture References in Contemporary Novels|website=Electric Lit|author=Pickard, Kevin|date=19 January 2016 }} January 19, 2016Kidd, Dustin. Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society. Routledge; 2nd Edition (Updated: August 2020). pp. 143–145. {{ISBN|978-0813350875}}. [https://archive.org/details/pop-culture-freaks_202009 Excerpt] The genre often overlaps with satire and parody, but the most-well known are considered to be more serious works of literature. Writers of this genre include Ernest Cline, Bret Easton Ellis, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Louis Bulaong.

{{Main|Pop culture studies}}

Pop culture studies are researches thesis, and other academic works that analyzes various trends of pop and mass culture, pop icons, or the effects and influences of pop culture in society and history. Ray B. Browne is one of the first academicians to conduct courses on the studies about pop culture.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/education/28browne.html?_r=0 | title=Ray Browne, 87, Founder of Pop-Culture Studies, Dies | work=The New York Times | date=27 October 2009 | access-date=12 March 2014 | author=Fox, Margalit}}

{{Portal|Society}}

• {{Anl|Monoculture (popular culture)}}
• {{annotated link|Culture industry}}
• {{annotated link|Fad|Fads}}
• {{annotated link|Fine art}}
• {{Anl|Korean Wave}}
• {{annotated link|The Journal of Popular Culture}}
• {{annotated link|Underground culture}}
• {{annotated link|Lowbrow (art movement)|Lowbrow}}
• {{annotated link|MTV Generation}}
• {{annotated link|Pop icon}}
• {{annotated link|Celebrity influence in politics}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• Ashby, LeRoy. "The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch," OAH Magazine of History, 24 (April 2010), 11–14.
• Ashby, LeRoy. With Amusement for All: A History of American Popular Culture since 1830 (2006).
• {{Interlanguage link|Moritz Baßler|de}}: Der deutsche Pop-Roman. Die neuen Archivisten (The German Pop-Novel. The new archivists), C.H. Beck, München 2002, {{ISBN|3-406-47614-7}}.
• Bakhtin, M. M. and Michael Holquist, Vadim Liapunov, Kenneth Brostrom (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series). Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin and London: University of Texas Press.
• Browne, Ray B. and Pat Browne, eds. The Guide to U.S. Popular Culture (2001), 1010 pages; essays by experts on many topics.
• Burke, Peter. "Popular Culture Reconsidered," Storia della Storiografia 1990, Issue 17, pp. 40–49.
• Freitag, Sandria B. "Popular Culture in the Rewriting of History: An Essay in Comparative History and Historiography," Journal of Peasant Studies, 1989, Vol. 16 Issue 3, pp. 169–198.
• Gans, Herbert J. Popular Culture and High Culture: an Analysis and Evaluation of Taste. New York: Basic Books, 1974. xii, 179 p. {{ISBN|0-465-06021-8}}
• Gerson, Stéphane. "' A World of Their Own': Searching for Popular Culture in the French Countryside," French Politics, Culture and Society, Summer 2009, Vol. 27 Issue 2, pp. 94–110
• Golby, J. M. and A.W. Purdue, The civilisation of the crowd: popular culture in England, 1750–1900 (1985) [https://archive.org/details/civilisationofc00golb online]
• Griffin, Emma. "Popular Culture in Industrializing England," Historical Journal, (2002) 45#3 pp. 619–635. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3133499 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119134018/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3133499 |date=2018-11-19 }}, Historiography
• Hassabian, Anahid (1999). "Popular", Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture, eds.: Horner, Bruce and Swiss, Thomas. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. {{ISBN|0-631-21263-9}}.
• Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, 2016: Globalized Muslim Youth in the Asia Pacific: Popular Culture in Singapore and Sydney, New York: Palgrave. {{ISBN|978-1-137-54264-9}}.
• Knight, Robert H. The Age of Consent: the Rise of Relativism and the Corruption of Popular Culture. Dallas, Tex.: Spence Publishing Co., 1998. xxiv, 253, [1] p. {{ISBN|1-890626-05-8}}
• Ross, Andrew. No Respect: Intellectuals & Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, 1989. ix, 269 p. {{ISBN|0-415-90037-9}} (pbk.)
• Seabrook, John. NoBrow : the culture of marketing the marketing of culture, New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000. {{ISBN|0-375-40504-6}}.
• Storey, John (2006). Cultural theory and popular culture. Pearson Education. {{ISBN|978-0-13-197068-7}}.
• {{cite journal |last=Stoykov |first=Lubomir |title=Politics and pop culture. Celebrity and communicative perspectives of the modern politician. |journal=Media and Social Communications |publisher=The University of National and World Economy/Alma communication |issue=19 |date=January 2014 |url=http://www.media-journal.info/?p=item&aid=355 |access-date=2018-08-23 |archive-date=2018-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210426/http://www.media-journal.info/?p=item&aid=355 |url-status=live }}
• Swirski, Peter (2010). Ars Americana Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American Literature and Culture. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3766-8}}.
• Swirski, Peter (2005). From Lowbrow to Nobrow. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3019-5}}.
• [https://ssrn.com/abstract=2046498 On Religion and Popular Culture]

{{Refend}}

• Duncan, Barry (1988). Mass Media and Popular Culture. Toronto, Ont.: Harcourt, Brace & Co. Canada. {{ISBN|0-7747-1262-7}}.
• Rosenberg, Bernard, and David Manning White, joint. eds. Mass Culture: the Popular Arts in America. [New York]: Free Press of Glencoe, 1957.
• Cowen, Tyler, "For Some Developing Countries, America's Popular Culture Is Resistible". The New York Times, 22 February 2007, sec. C, p. 3.
• Furio, Joanne, "The Significance of MTV and Rap Music in Popular Culture". The New York Times, 29 December 1991, sec. VI, p. 2.

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Category:Media studies